Visions About the Nations Around Judah

12 The sad message
from the Lord about
Israel. The Lord made the sky and the
earth. He put man’s spirit in him. And the
Lord said these things.
2“Look,
I will make
Jerusalem like a cup of poison to the nations
around her. The nations will come and attack
that city. And all of Judah will be caught in
the trap. 3But
I will make Jerusalem like a
heavy rock—anyone that tries to take it will
hurt himself. Those people will really be cut
and scratched. But all the nations on earth will
come together to fight against Jerusalem.
4But
at that time, I will scare the horse, and the
soldier riding it will panic. I will make all the
enemy horses blind, but my eyes will be
open—and I will be watching over Judah’s
family. 5The
family leaders of Judah will
encourage the people. They will say, ‘The
Lord All-Powerful is your God. He makes us
strong.’ 6At
that time, I will make the family
leaders of Judah like a fire burning in a forest.
They will destroy their enemies like fire
burning straw. They will destroy the enemy
all around them. And the people in Jerusalem
will again be able to sit back and relax.”
7The Lord will save
the people of Judah
first, so the people in Jerusalem will not be able
to brag too much. David’s family and the other
people living in Jerusalem will not be able to
brag that they are better than the other people
in Judah. 8But
the Lord will protect the people
in Jerusalem. Even the clumsiest person will be
a great soldier like David. And the men from
David’s family will be like gods—like the
Lord’s own angel leading the people.
9The Lord says, “At
that time, I will
destroy the nations that came to fight against
Jerusalem. 10I
will fill David’s family and the
people living in Jerusalem with a spirit of
kindness and mercy. They will look to me, the
One they pierced. And they will be very sad.
They will be as sad as a person crying over
the death of his only son; as sad as someone
crying over the death of his firstborn* son.
11There will be a
time of great sadness and
crying in Jerusalem. It will be like the time
people cried over the death of Hadad Rimmon
in Megiddo Valley. 12Each and every family
will cry by itself. The men in David’s family
will cry by themselves. And their wives will
cry by themselves. The men in Nathan’s
family will cry by themselves. And their
wives will cry by themselves.
13The
men in
Levi’s family will cry by themselves. And
their wives will cry by themselves. The men
in Simeon’s family will cry by themselves.
And their wives will cry by themselves.
14And the same
thing will happen in all the
other family groups. The men and women
will cry by themselves.”

firstborn The first child born into a family. The firstborn
son
was very important in ancient times.

13 But at that time,
a new spring of water
will be opened for David’s family and
for the other people living in Jerusalem. That
fountain will be to wash away their sins and
to make the people pure.

No More False Prophets

2The Lord
All-Powerful says, “At that
time, I will remove all the idols from the
earth. People will not even remember their
names. And I will remove the {false} prophets
and unclean* spirits from the earth.
3If
a
person continues to prophesy, then he will be punished. Even his parents, his own mother
and father, will say to him, ‘You have spoken
lies in the name of the Lord, so you must die!’
His own mother and father will stab him for
prophesying. 4At
that time, the prophets will
be ashamed of their visions and prophecies.
They will not wear the rough cloth that shows
a person is a prophet. They will not wear
those clothes to trick people with the lies they
call prophecies. 5Those
people will say, ‘I am
not a prophet. I am a farmer. I have worked as
a farmer since I was a little child.’
6But
other
people will say, ‘But what are these wounds in
your hands?’ He will say, ‘I was beaten in the
house of my friends.’”
7The Lord
All-Powerful says, “Sword, hit
the shepherd! Hit my friend! Hit the shepherd
and the sheep will run away. And I will
punish those little ones.
8Two-thirds
of the
people in the land will be hurt and die. But
one-third of them will survive.
9Then
I will
test those survivors. I will give them many
troubles. The troubles will be like the fire a
man uses to prove silver is pure. I will test
them the way a person tests gold. Then they
will call to me for help, and I will answer
them. I will say, ‘You are my people.’ And
they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”

unclean Not pure or not acceptable to God.

The Day of Judgment

14 Look, the Lord
has a special day for
judging. And the wealth you have taken
will be divided in your city.
2I
will bring all the
nations together to fight against Jerusalem.
They will capture the city and destroy the
houses. The women will be raped, and half of
the people will be taken away as prisoners. But
the rest of the people will not be taken from
the city. 3Then
the Lord will go to war with
those nations. It will be a real battle.
4At
that
time, he will stand on the Mount of Olives, the
hill east of Jerusalem. The Mount of Olives
will split. Part of the mountain will move to
the north, and part to the south. A deep valley
will open up, from the east to the west.
5You
will try to run away as that mountain valley
comes closer and closer to you. You will run
away like the time you ran from the earthquake
during the time of Uzziah, king of Judah. But
the Lord my God will come, and all his holy
ones will be with him.
6–7That will be a
very special day. There
will not be any light, cold, or frost. Only the
Lord knows how, but there will not be any
day or night. Then, when darkness usually
comes, there will still be light.
8At
that time,
water will flow continually from Jerusalem.* That stream will split and part of it will flow
east, and part of it will flow west to the
Mediterranean Sea. And it will flow all year
long, in the summer as well as in the winter.
9And the Lord will
be the King of the whole
world at that time. The Lord is One. His name
is One. 10At
that time, the whole area around
Jerusalem will become {empty} like the
Arabah desert. The country will be like a
desert from Geba to Rimmon in the Negev.
But the whole city of Jerusalem will be built
again—from Benjamin Gate to the First Gate
(that is, the Corner Gate) and from the Tower
of Hananel to the king’s winepresses. 11People will move
there to live. No enemy
will come to destroy them any more.
Jerusalem will be safe.
12But the Lord will
punish the nations that
fought against Jerusalem. He will send a
terrible disease against them. Their skin will
begin to rot while the people are still alive.
Their eyes will rot in their sockets and their
tongues will rot in their mouths.
13–15That
terrible disease will be in the enemy camp.
And their horses, mules, camels, and donkeys
will all catch that terrible disease.
At that time, those people will really be
afraid of the Lord. Each man will grab his
neighbor’s hand and those neighbors will
fight each other. Even Judah will fight against
Jerusalem. This will happen even while the
wealth* of all the nations has been gathered
together around the city. There will be very
much gold, silver, and clothing.
16Some
of the people that came to fight Jerusalem will survive. And every year they
will come to worship the king, the Lord All-Powerful.

And
they will come to celebrate the Festival of
Shelters.* 17And
if people from any of the
families on earth don’t go to Jerusalem to
worship the king, the Lord All-Powerful, then
the Lord will not let them have any rain.
18If
any of the families in Egypt don’t come to
celebrate the Festival of Shelters, then they
will get that terrible disease that the Lord
caused the enemy nations to get.
19That
will
be the punishment for Egypt, and for any
other nation that does not come to celebrate
the Festival of Shelters.
20At that time,
everything will belong to
God. Even the harnesses on the horses will
have the label, HOLYTOTHELORD.* And all
the pots used in the Lord’s temple will be just
as important as the bowls used at the altar.
21In fact, every
dish in Jerusalem and Judah
will have the label, HOLYTOTHELORDALL-POWERFUL.
All the people offering
sacrifices will come and take those dishes and
cook {their
special meals} in them.
At that time, there will not be any
businessmen buying and selling things* in the
temple of the Lord All-Powerful.

water … Jerusalem Literally, “Living water will flow from
Jerusalem.” Jerusalem’s main water supply, the Gihon spring,
did not flow continuously.
wealth Or, “armies.”
Festival of Shelters During this fall holiday, the people
traveled to Jerusalem, built temporary shelters, camped out in
them for a week, and had a happy time together with the Lord.
HOLY TO THE LORD These words were written on everything
that was used in the temple. This showed that these things
belonged to the Lord, and they could be used only for special
purposes. Dishes with labels could only be used by the priests
in a holy place.
businessmen … selling things Literally, “Canaanites.”